Disclaimers: Xena, Gabrielle and Palaemon belong to those rather
fortunate individuals affectionately known as The Powers That Be at Studio USA,
Ren Pics and whatnots.The only thing
I’m gaining from them here is the personal satisfaction of toying with the
characters in my own image.Pythagoras
(582 B.C. – 500 B.C.) was a Greek Philosopher and Mathematician.Julius Caesar was Julius Caesar.All of the other named characters are mine.

Series Credit:This
vignette is a prequel to my continuing Embrace/Freedom Conqueror Series.
The events of this short story take place approximately one year before the
events of The Embrace and Freedom.However, it’s imperative that you at least read The Embrace
and Freedom prior to reading this story or it may not make much
sense.This story is told in its
entirety from Commander Palaemon’s perspective.

Character Warning:Because this is a prequel to the series, Xena the Conqueror has not yet
professed her love for Gabrielle.Gabrielle has not yet been freed.Thus, the “realities” of their Mistress/Slave relationship are still in
full force and effect.

Lesbian Sex Warning:Since this story is told from Palaemon’s point of view, and it’s not
like he was standing off to the side with a camcorder, the sexual situations
between Xena and Gabrielle are inferred rather than graphically detailed.This is still very much an “Alt” story,
however, and because there is discussion of lesbian sexual subject matter, I
still would not recommend this reading for those under age 18.

When I was a young lad living in Athens, my father took me
to a house of porneuesthai.He paid a
beautiful porne to introduce me to sex.Father wanted me to experience sex with women early to solidify my lust
for them and cut short any chance that I would allow myself to be entreated or
titillated by one of the older men of state, many of whom took youthful men and
boys as lovers for a time.Father never
understood the practice of many of his kinsmen, although it was quite common,
but he never quite understood women either.He believed, as did many of the men with whom he associated, that when
one combines the feelings of physical desire with an acknowledgment of love, a
substantial distortion of one’s psyche is created, which is analogous to
insanity.Father believed that most men
are spared those feelings of love, but women always fall prey to them.“Women,” he would say, “are fickle-minded
from birth.Love is a flaw of
womanhood.A woman doesn’t require the
strength of body and mind that a man requires, since her primary purpose in
life is to be at a man’s disposal for sexual pleasure and to bear his sons.”

It’s a shame that Father didn’t live to meet Xena the
Conqueror.

I am Chief Commander of the Conqueror’s Imperial Guard.I was awarded this position after I fought
along side her in her successful campaign to defeat Julius Caesar and conquer
Rome.When I came to Corinth to command
her elite Guard, our Majesty quickly dispelled every predisposed notion that I
had had about women.She has the
strength of ten men, the intellect of the greatest of philosophers, the
mystique of an oracle and the will of a god.There are those of my contemporaries who believe that she herself is the
progeny of a god.Many of my men will
swear that she is the daughter of Ares, God of War, because without argument,
she is the greatest warrior known to man.Others will swear that she is the mortal incarnation of either the great
Goddess Athena or Eris, Goddess of Discord.Others believe her to be the daughter of Hephaestus, because she is the
most skilled mortal with a sword and dagger, and because she possesses a mysterious
circular weapon that she calls the chakram, which only she can wield without
losing a limb.

I believe she is the daughter of Zeus himself.But if by chance she is the progeny of mere
mortals, she is definitely a favored mortal amongst the gods.

Never has a mortal, man or woman, possessed her focus, her
courage, her strength, her fearlessness and her will to win any battle that
comes before her.I am in total awe of
this woman.

Yet again, contrary to Father’s belief, I initially
discovered that Xena the Conqueror apparently did not possess that flaw of
womanhood.In my ensuing years under
her command, I have witnessed how she interacts with her subordinates.She rules with hubris.Xena the Conqueror treats her subjects as
she pleases.She has no fear of penalty
or retribution.If a soldier, civilian
or slave disobeys her, they’ll wind up dead or wishing they were so.She demands ultimate respect from everyone,
including and especially the men and women of her troops.When our competence shines, we are greatly
rewarded.When we fall short, our
punishment is harsh.From her troops,
Xena the Conqueror receives that respect.To her subjects and slaves, she is the face of death itself.

However, just as I was convincing myself that our Supreme
Ruler was completely void of love or any of those other softer human emotions,
something bizarre began happening.

About a year after conquering Rome, while our Ruler was
comfortably positioned as the Destroyer of Nations, she was requested by some
of my military contemporaries to discuss a possible uprising in Pergamon.On our way to an important meeting to confer
with them, she was distracted by a common slave auction in the Corinthian
agora.That day, the Conqueror added
another body slave to her seemingly ever-growing collection.

I could not have remotely anticipated it at the time, but
this young slave would change the Conqueror’s life, and in essence, my life as
well.

Her name is Gabrielle, and practically from the moment she
was acquired, she became the Conqueror’s hetaera.All of the Conqueror’s other body slaves were sold the next day,
and from then on, the Conqueror became a mass of contradictions when it came to
the young woman.During the first year
or two of Gabrielle’s servitude, a small number of times, the Conqueror would
injure her to the point where the girl required healing attention in the
infirmary.And yet, while the girl
recuperated there, the Conqueror would go to her, sit by her bedside, and on at
least one occasion that I observed, hold her hand as she slept.On a few occasions, it has been said, the
Conqueror would require Gabrielle to service her in front of her diplomats or
political leaders, and yet she would mutilate or kill any man, regardless of
his rank or position of state, who made the mistake of looking at Gabrielle
adoringly or desirously.Periodically,
the Conqueror would degrade the girl, calling her unrepeatable epithets, and
yet she adorned Gabrielle’s bedchamber with the finest furnishings, had her
personal dressmaker Illiana create the finest chitons for Gabrielle to wear,
and nourished the young woman with lavish meals.As a token of affection, I presume, our Ruler even had Illiana
make Gabrielle a beautiful cloth doll.

During these past few years, I haven’t known what to make of
our Majesty’s behavior when it came to her little hetaera, but after the events
of the last two days, I have had a revelation.Father was correct after all.Xena the Conqueror is desperately, tragically in love with Gabrielle.

* * * *

Earlier today, I found a very frightened Gabrielle hiding in
a small space behind the back wall of a kitchen cupboard.She had been missing for several candlemarks
and the Conqueror was threatening to decapitate me if I didn’t find her.

The kitchen servants, who were apparently more loyal to
Gabrielle than to the Conqueror, had carefully hidden the girl.That was not an anomaly.Gabrielle is a warm and kindhearted young
woman who gives so much of herself through the stories she tells to the other
servants and their families.I don’t
think there is a living soul in the Imperial palace that doesn’t totally love
her.In any event, I was finally able
to extract information as to her whereabouts after promising the head cook
Andronius that I would do everything in my power to convince the Conqueror not
to punish Gabrielle too severely.It
was a promise that I intended on keeping.

When I was brought to her, she was cowering in the space
with her arms wrapped around her legs.Her face was dirty and tear-stained.I decided to climb into the confining space with her.

“Hi, Gabrielle,” I said to her.

“Hi, Commander Palaemon,” she replied in her soft voice.

“You want to tell me why you’ve been hiding in here?”

“What difference does it make, Commander,” she said.“My life is forfeit anyway.”

“Not if I can help it,” I said sincerely.“What’s going on?”

Yesterday evening, Gabrielle had been reading at one of the
tables in the Conqueror’s bedchamber.She is the only one of the Conqueror’s slaves who can read and write,
and at this particular time, she was studying the early philosophic teachings
of our historic Greek thinker, Pythagoras. The Conqueror was seated at the
table as well.Gabrielle said that our
Ruler was looking over some maps.Repeatedly, the Conqueror would look over at Gabrielle as she read.Gabrielle indicated that this behavior, and
by that I mean the Conqueror’s staring, had become quite common over the last
year or two.Gabrielle could sense that
the Conqueror’s desires were brimming, and that service would be required
soon.

Gabrielle continued reading for several moments until
finally the Conqueror stood up and positioned herself behind Gabrielle.

“Get up,” Gabrielle indicated that the Conqueror commanded
to her.

Gabrielle stood up and was immediately lifted up by the
Conqueror.However, to Gabrielle’s
surprise, she was not carried to the Conqueror’s bed.Instead, she was carried out of the bedchamber and taken down the
corridor to her own bedchamber.Inside,
Gabrielle said that the Conqueror deposited her on the bed and ordered her to
undress.

“I suppose that’s when services were rendered?” I inquired.

“Yes,” Gabrielle replied.

“Did she hurt you?”

A blush invaded the young woman’s cheeks.“Not exactly.”Suddenly, a brief but wicked smile flashed across her face.

I had never discussed our Majesty’s sex life with her or
anyone else, but I admit, I was quite curious to know the reason behind that
blush and that momentary grin.I didn’t
ask Gabrielle for specifics, but from my generalized questions and much to my
subversive delight, she was willing to divulge some things to me.

Gabrielle told me that the Conqueror started out by
performing an oral pleasure on her.I
didn’t know what she meant by that, so when I inquired, she indicated that the
pleasure was oral copulation.I asked
if it was the first time that this had ever happened.She admitted to me that service with the Conqueror had been, for
the most part, pleasurable to her for at least the last three years and that
oral pleasure was one of many long-time customary practices in their sexual
activity.Until that moment, I had
always assumed that the Conqueror, like any man who keeps a hetaera, sought
pleasure from Gabrielle without the least bit concern for the young woman’s own
satisfaction.It was amazing to learn
that, over the years, Gabrielle hadn’t been the only one servicing in the
privacy of the Conqueror’s bedchamber.

Gabrielle went on to tell me that this service lasted quite a
while, as it often does, before both she and the Conqueror achieved
release.Gabrielle didn’t go into great
detail, but she shyly mentioned that some other intimacies followed the oral
pleasure, and that there was some kissing, titillation and other such touches
before climax.As she spoke, I tried
desperately not to allow my private imaginations of two beautiful women
engaging in sex arouse me.Once service
was completed, Gabrielle told me that the Conqueror got up from the bed and
began pacing around the room.

“Is that typical?” I asked.

“Servicing in my bedchamber isn’t even typical, Commander,”
she replied.“On top of that, the
pacing was making me nervous.”

“What happened after that?” I inquired.

“She picked up the doll that Illiana had made for me,”
Gabrielle said.“She asked me where I
had obtained the dress that the doll was wearing.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“The dress that I had on the doll last night wasn’t the same
one it had on when it was presented to me as a gift,” came her explanation.

“Oh,” I said.“What
happened after that?”

“I told her that Illiana had made the dress for the doll,”
Gabrielle explained.“And then she
asked me if that was the only extra dress I had for it.”

I found it quite strange that our Majesty would be so
curious about a doll.Gabrielle’s
continuing explanation began to shed new light, however.

“When I told her that Illiana had made several dresses for
me,” Gabrielle continued,“the
Conqueror looked away and said that Illiana loves me very much.I didn’t think I had heard her correctly,
but she repeated herself.‘Illiana
loves you very much, you know,’ she said.”

“What happened after that?” I asked.

Gabrielle explained to me that the Conqueror wandered over
to a table and picked up an ornate vase.She asked Gabrielle about the origin of the vase, as it was not
something that had been given to Gabrielle on the Conqueror’s behalf.Gabrielle informed the Conqueror that the
vase was made by the palace potter Khalit, and was given to Gabrielle as a gift
on behalf of his wife Alithia, who serves as a palace chambermaid.

“She became angry and demanded to know why Alithia would ask
Khalit to make me that vase,” Gabrielle said.

“What did you tell her?” I asked.

“I told her the truth, Commander,” she replied.“Alithia appreciates the time I spend
telling stories to her children and to the other children of the palace
servants.The vase was a token of
gratitude.”

“I see,” I said. “And then what happened?”

“That was it,” Gabrielle said.“She put on her peplos and left my bedchamber.”

As Gabrielle rested her chin on her knees, the image of the
naked Conqueror pacing around the girl’s room filtered through my mind.I don’t know why, because the Conqueror has
never been shy about her body, but I naturally assumed that she immediately
dressed after services were rendered.I
was learning that there was a great deal of physical intimacy between these two
women.

Gabrielle told me that this morning, she rose to find a most
beautiful bouquet of flowers in the vase.“The assortment was so colorful, Commander,” she said as I saw a strange
sparkle in her pretty green eyes.“They
made me happy and I just wanted to show them off,” she continued, “so I ran to
the library and grabbed Demi and then I went to Mia’s quarters and took them
both back to my bedchamber and showed them.”

“Where do you suppose they came from?” I asked, knowing full
well the answer.

“HER, of course,” she responded.“Do you think anyone else would be insane enough to cut flowers
from the Imperial Gardens… and come to my bedchamber in the middle of the night
with them?”

“Why do you suppose she did that?” I asked, not really
knowing the answer at the time.

“I thought that maybe it was because she liked me a little
bit,” she said. “By the gods, am I stupid.”At that point, Gabrielle began crying.

I grabbed her hands.Gabrielle is a small woman, and I had never really noticed until that
moment that she had such small and delicate hands.“You’re not stupid, Gabrielle,” I assured her.“I think the Conqueror does like you… a
little bit.”

Gabrielle told me that after showing off the flowers to Demi
and Mia, she ate her morning meal with Mia, who serves as the Conqueror’s
indentured personal chambermaid.She
then joined Demi in the library where he serves as the palace librarian.She said that she resumed her study of
Pythagoras until, in the early afternoon, she was summoned for service.

“It wasn’t pleasurable, Gabrielle?” I asked.

“No!” she retorted.“She used IT on me.”

Gabrielle didn’t need to explain to me what “it” was.I had learned some time ago that Moyshe, the
Conqueror’s Judean-born leather craftsman, had created a phallus for her.I had never seen the instrument, but Moyshe
told me that the device was quite large and probably not very comfortable to
the one receiving it in penetration.He
also told me that just after making it, he worried that the device might
actually do physical damage to the recipient and advised the Conqueror to
consider allowing him to construct a smaller one.He said that she ignored his pleas to her.

Unlike her earlier admissions about her service with the
Conqueror, I had no desire to hear any details about this service.“What happened after service,
Gabrielle?”I asked as I felt my own
heart breaking over her obvious hurt and anger.

“She got up and left her bedchamber, Commander,” Gabrielle
responded weeping.“I was so
angry.I felt so betrayed.She hadn’t used ‘it’ on me in months.I thought that maybe she had grown tired of
it and would never use it on me again.But she had to remind me that I’m nothing to her.”

There was a pause, and then she continued.“I ran to my bedchamber and threw the
flowers out of my window.”

As Gabrielle finished telling me the tale that would wind up
with her hiding like a mouse in this musty wall, I had a revelation.Gabrielle is desperately, tragically in love
with Xena the Conqueror.

* * * *

I knew about the flowers being tossed from Gabrielle’s
window.One of our unfortunate palace
gate Guardsmen was struck by the flying floral arrangement and instantly became
the butt of jokes to his barrack mates.Word had spread like a plague and it was shortly thereafter that
Gabrielle came up missing.I was
immediately summoned to the Conqueror’s bedchamber, where I was ordered to
dispatch every available palace Guardsman to comb every nook of the palace in
order to find her.I was further
instructed not to allow any human, horse or carriage of any sort to either
enter or leave the palace grounds until she was found.

“I will make this palace a prison and all of us prisoners
until that bitch is brought back to me!” she proclaimed.

When Gabrielle had still not yet been found after several
candlemarks of frantic searching, I went to the Conqueror.She was standing by one of her windows and
refused to face me.“Tell me that my
little whore has been found, Commander,” she said in a low voice.

“Not yet, my Liege,” I responded.“But she will be.”

“Then why the fuck are you just standing here, Commander?”

“I, uh… when she’s found, my Liege… please don’t hurt her.”

Instantly, the Conqueror’s breathing seemed to get heavier
and her hands balled into tight fists.However, just as instantly, she exhaled and flattened her hands on the
windowsill. “I don’t understand women,” she said very quietly.

That was odd.“Excuse
me, my Liege, but you are a woman.”

“Get out of here,” she said in an even quieter, yet more
portentous voice.

When I was out of the Conqueror’s bedchamber, I stood for a
moment and reflected on her comment.She
doesn’t understand Gabrielle, I thought.That’s what she was saying.But she anxiously wants to
understand the young woman.

It was then that, betting on a hunch, I made my way to the
palace kitchens.

* * * *

“That’s why you hid, Gabrielle?” I asked.“Because the Conqueror would learn that you
had disrespected her by throwing her gift to you out of your window?”

“It wasn’t my idea to run away,” she said.“Mia begged me to hide.They were going to wait until nightfall and
stow me away in one of the produce carriages.”

By “they”, she meant many of the palace servants that, I
deduced, had conspired to spirit young Gabrielle away from Corinth to a secret
destination until the Conqueror decided the girl wasn’t worth seeking
anymore.This was the second time that
a conspiracy was formed to plan Gabrielle’s escape.The first time occurred about three years ago, after the
Conqueror took Gabrielle forcefully in front of the young woman’s parents.Demi, Mia and Moyshe were among the
conspirators at that time, but Gabrielle became fearful that the others would
suffer the Conqueror’s fatal wrath if their involvement was discovered, and
thus, she herself terminated the operation.

This matter had to be repaired as well.I knew that the Conqueror would never decide
that Gabrielle “wasn’t worth seeking anymore,” and I didn’t want Greece to be
torn apart by her in her desperate search for the girl.

“Let me take you back to her, Gabrielle,” I said.“I will do everything in my power to prevent
her from hurting you.I promise.”

As we neared the Conqueror’s bedchamber, I noticed that
Gabrielle’s breathing became more labored.Stopping in front of the door, I briefly put my arm around her and
squeezed her shoulder gently with my hand.It was my way of reassuring her of my commitment to her safety.Removing my arm, I knocked on the chamber
door.

A voice from within called out.“Who is it?”

“It’s me, my Liege,” I responded.

“Are you alone?”

“No, Majesty.Gabrielle is with me.”

There was a momentary pause before the Conqueror spoke
again.“Enter.”

When we walked in, she was sitting at the small throne that
she keeps in the chamber.I decided to
slowly walk toward her.Gabrielle
remained beside me, but was trembling with immense fear.As we approached the Conqueror, she removed
a dagger from her boot and began rubbing her thumb on it.

“I see that you found her,” she said.

“Yes, my Liege,” I replied.

“Very well, Commander,” she said in a tone that I did not
like at all.“You may leave now.”

My heart began racing, but I had a promise to keep.“Not until you assure me that you won’t hurt
her, Conqueror,” I said.

She stood, already not a good sign. “Excuse me, Commander
Palaemon?” she inquired in a voice that hissed like a cobra.

I cleared my throat.“With all due respect, my Liege, I do not wish you to hurt Gabrielle.”

Among the Conqueror’s multitude of talents, she is as fast
as a wild cat.Before I could blink,
she had extended her arms, grabbed Gabrielle by the collar of her tunic, and
placed her in a headlock.The
Conqueror’s left arm was around Gabrielle’s neck while her right hand held the
dagger to the girl’s chin.

“You dare defy me over this worthless whore,” the Conqueror
asked in a menacing tone.

“No, my Liege,” I said, trying to maintain civility.“I only ask that you not hurt her.”

“Get the fuck out of here, Palaemon,” she demanded.

“Don’t hurt her, Conqueror,” I repeated.

“I said get the fuck out of here!”

I didn’t respond but refused to move.She pushed Gabrielle aside and lunged at me,
dagger still in hand.I fell to the
ground.She gripped my neck with the
powerful long fingers of her left hand.With her right, she brought the dagger to my throat.

“I can’t believe you’re willing to die over HER,” she said
as she cocked her head in the direction of Gabrielle, who was now on her knees
embracing herself and shaking her head at me, I believed, in a silent plea for
me to abort my gesture of protection.

The Conqueror was choking me with her grip.“Please, my Liege,” I struggled to say.“Don’t… hurt… her.”

I looked into the Conqueror’s spectacular sky blue eyes and
saw something for the very first time.I saw a light and I saw moisture.I couldn’t believe it.It was so
momentary that I almost convinced myself that I was seeing things.The air I’m losing is making my mind
feeble, I thought for an instant.

The Conqueror rose up off of me and went over to
Gabrielle.“Get up,” she commanded to
the girl.When Gabrielle stood, the
Conqueror slipped her hand between the girl’s long, honey blond hair and her
shoulders and gripped her neck.Our
Ruler didn’t say anything.She just
watched me as I stood up.

I rubbed my neck for a few moments.“Don’t hurt her, my Liege,” I said before
exiting the bedchamber.

* * * *

A short time later, the Conqueror came to me at my palace
barracks quarters.“Let’s go,
Palaemon,” she simply said.

Grabbing my sword, I followed her to the palace
courtyard.There, we fought for several
moments with our swords.She eventually
kicked my sword out of my hand and, throwing her sword to the ground, she
backhanded me.I punched her in her
stomach.When she doubled over, I
elbowed her right ear.She went down on
her knees only momentarily, but then swiped her long left leg up under me.I fell back.Straddling me, she began a series of blows to my face.I was striking her as well.

The Conqueror and I fought for quite a long time.Neither of us spoke a word.Finally, it was over.The Conqueror rose, picked up her sword and
walked away.Blood was draining from
her ear and her nose.My nose bled as
well, my wrist and back ached, and I knew I would have a black eye in the
morning.

Shortly after the Conqueror departed, Mia ran up to me.

“Did she hurt her?” I asked.

“It’s amazing, Commander,” she responded.“No, she didn’t.”

Mia’s servant’s quarters had a second door that leads
directly into the Conqueror’s bedchamber.If she cracked the door slightly, she had a partial view of the
bedchamber.From her vantage point, Mia
witnessed much of what went on when I returned Gabrielle to the Conqueror.Luckily, she witnessed everything that went
on after I had left.

“What did she do?” I asked.

“The Conqueror asked Gabrielle if she was ready for her
punishment,” Mia began.“Gabrielle
said, ‘Yes, my Lady,’ and the Conqueror took her over to the wall next to the
chamber pot.She shackled Gabrielle to
the wall.”

“By the gods, woman!” I said as I wiped my bloody nose.“You don’t think being shackled hurts?”

“No, she isn’t shackled against the wall like a prisoner in
the dungeons.The chains are loose and
give her plenty of mobility.She can
even easily use the chamber pot.”

Mia snickered.I
snickered as well.“Did the Conqueror
say anything?”

“No,” Mia replied.“But you know her.She never has
much to say.She just left Gabrielle
there and walked out.”

I stood up as Mia continued.“I slipped into the chamber and gave Gabrielle some bread and
water.She was smiling, Commander.She even joked about the convenience of
being so close to the chamber pot.I’m
sure she was expecting a beating at the very least and was relieved that
nothing of the sort happened.”

I knew that the Conqueror wouldn’t return to Gabrielle
before tending to the slight wounds that I inflicted, so I decided to head back
to Mia’s quarters to await the Conqueror’s return.For the first time in my service to our Ruler, I planned on doing
a little eavesdropping as well.

When Mia and I entered her servant’s quarters, we
immediately went over to the second door and looked in on Gabrielle.She was sitting against the wall.Her legs were crossed and her shackled hands
rested in her lap.The chains attached
to the shackles on her wrists were quite long.It was apparent that she could easily move several paces in any
direction.Also, she did look rather comfortable
under the circumstances.I decided not
to let Gabrielle know that I was there.I felt that the knowledge might affect the way the girl responded to the
Conqueror when she did return. As for Mia, she informed me that Gabrielle was
well aware that she often looked in on the happenings in that bedchamber.I think it gave Gabrielle a strange sense of
security.However, Mia couldn’t see the
bed from her view.

We waited for a while before we heard the sound of the
Conqueror’s bedchamber door open and close.Like mischievous schoolchildren, we scurried over to Mia’s second door
and cracked it open again.The
Conqueror had washed her face, although a prominent bruise was present on her
left cheek.I felt rather proud of my
handiwork.

The Conqueror crouched down on her knees and stared at
Gabrielle.“What in Tartarus did you
think you were doing?” she asked after a long silence and in a surprisingly
strained voice.

“I was being stupid, my Lady,” Gabrielle replied.“I was thinking like a whimsical child.I let myself forget.”Gabrielle lowered her head.

“My Chief Commander of my Imperial Guard was willing to
sacrifice his life for you,” the Conqueror said.“That’s unacceptable, slave.”

“I know, my Lady.”

Xena the Conqueror rose up.“I have come to a decision, Gabrielle,” she said.“I plan to award you to Palaemon, since he
CARES so much about you.You can be his
personal concubine.”My heart began
racing.

Gabrielle looked up.The Conqueror continued.“But
the choice must be yours.Either you
stay here or you go to him today.Which
will it be?”

“I… I… I don’t know, my Lady,” Gabrielle responded.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” the Conqueror
countered.“It’s a simple
question.Him or me?”

“I… I need to think about it, my Lady.”

“What is there to think about?”

Gabrielle didn’t respond.“ANSWER ME!” the Conqueror demanded.

“I can’t,” came Gabrielle’s weepy reply.

At that moment, the Conqueror turned and stormed out of the
bedchamber.“I have to go, Mia,” I
announced before dashing back to my own sleeping quarters.Taking a shortcut and praying to the gods, I
managed to get there in a matter of moments.Just as I had suspected, the Conqueror knocked shortly after I had
arrived.

“I’m giving Gabrielle to you, Palaemon,” she said after I
opened my door.

“I don’t want her, Majesty,” I responded.

“What do you mean you don’t want her?” she posed. “Don’t you
find her attractive?Don’t you find her
desirable?You were willing to die for
her!”

I took a deep breath.“I promised her that I would do everything in my power to keep her safe,
my Liege,” I said.“I was keeping my
promise to her.”

The Conqueror folded her arms.“Well, you left her with me,” she said.

I folded my arms.“At that point, I knew you wouldn’t hurt her, my Liege,” I said
self-assuredly.“As for her kalos, yes,
she is attractive and yes, she is desirable.But I will never find her as attractive and desirable as you find her to
be, Conqueror.”

There was a tense silence that followed my remarks.I didn’t know what to expect, but I was
relieved when the Conqueror elected to simply walk away back toward her
bedchamber.

Later, Mia came to my quarters.

“What happened after I left, Mia?”I inquired, deciding not to divulge the conversation I had had
with the Conqueror.

“She left for a while, but came back,” Mia replied.“I gave Gabrielle some grapes while the
Conqueror was gone.”

“Was she okay?” I asked.

“Scared, but fine,” came Mia’s reply.“When the Conqueror came back, she told
Gabrielle that she didn’t have to make the choice anymore.She said that you didn’t want
Gabrielle.Is that true?”

“Sort of,” I said.

“The Conqueror was quite nasty about it,” Mia
continued.“But Gabrielle surprised us
both, I suspect.She told the Conqueror
that she would have chosen her.”

I was neither surprised nor offended.“Is that so?” I asked.

“Yea, Commander,” Mia answered.“She said something like, ‘I know what to expect with you, my
Lady,’ and that ‘Commander Palaemon would be starting over for me.’I think Gabrielle’s totally crazy.”

“What did the Conqueror say after that?”

“Well, you know the Conqueror,” Mia said, chuckling.“She didn’t say anything.She just unshackled Gabrielle’s wrists.She was kneeling mighty close to Gabrielle
when she was doing it, closer than she had to be.And they stared at each other.Just between you and me, I think the Conqueror was overjoyed that
Gabrielle chose her.”

“So, nothing else was said?” I asked.

“Not really,” Mia advised.“Gabrielle got up.The Conqueror
ordered Gabrielle to go wash herself.Eventually, they both laid down.I couldn’t see them, but I can sometimes hear when they talk over there,
and as usual they weren’t talking.It
was quiet for a long time after that.I’m sure they’re having sex right now.”

“What makes you think so?” I was perturbed.

“That’s what they do, Commander,” she said.“It’s just their way.”

I thought for a moment.“Go back there, Mia,” I said. “Report to me if you hear anything that
might require my attention.”

After Mia departed, I sat on my bed and thought.I had learned something very profound and
intimate about our Ruler and her special young hetaera.These two women spend so much time together,
but they really don’t communicate with each other.It’s not surprising that neither one knows how the other one
feels.They don’t know each other’s
pain, each other’s longing, or each other’s love.Mia was correct.For
them, sex was their only way of expressing love for each other.Gabrielle wasn’t angry because the phallus
was physically uncomfortable, although I’m sure it was.She was angry because the Conqueror wasn’t
communicating love by using it.Perhaps
the Conqueror chose then, after having given Gabrielle that lovely arrangement
of flowers, to use the phallus because she wanted to convince herself, as well
as Gabrielle, that she doesn’t love her.

On the other hand, the Conqueror may not even be aware that
Gabrielle loathes the device.

I don’t know what is yet to come in our Realm, but I do know
that this little episode in the lives of our Ruler and her spirited young slave
will somehow have a profound effect on us all.As I turn in for the evening, I can’t help but to smile.Right now, I am feeling ever so grateful for
the wonderful and mysterious presence of that “flaw of womanhood.”